The right and wrong ways to hold departments accountable for student success

Academic leaders need the support of departments and their faculty to improve institutional graduation rates. But if you measure departments on the time from their majors’ matriculation to graduation, you have probably heard at least one of these common objections:

• Departments may not even have contact with their majors until they have completed first- and second-year prerequisites and general education requirements
• Most students change their major before they graduate, and departments can’t control students’ experiences in their previous majors
• Transfer students from other institutions face barriers to graduation based on what happened at their prior institution, not just in the current department

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This resource is part of the Design Effective Academic Department Reviews Roadmap. Access the Roadmap for stepwise guidance with additional tools and research.